Top Rated Documentary Movies on Kanopy - Page 233

The Earth is Our Home

1979

The Earth is Our Home

1979
This documentary about the early Indians of the Great Basin emphasizes the traditional culture of the last 5,000 years. The story unfolds through the words and skills of the older Piaute women of southeastern Oregon and northern Nevada. They tell us how they make cakes from berries, baskets from tulles, cord for nets…necessary daily tasks linked with an ancient heritage. The earth is ever present in the film, wildlife, rivers and marshes, sagebrush desert, all part of the story. The lifeways of the Northern Paiutes are followed through a seasonal cycle, from root-gathering in spring to building shelter in winter.
Roots of Fire

2023

Roots of Fire

2023
The battle to revive dying tradition comes to life through the young musicians of Southwest Louisiana in this powerful musical documentary. Amidst shuttered rural dance clubs and encroaching globalization, five Grammy award-winning artists lend their voices, examine the discrimination that almost erased their customs, and share the unique sounds created when the forces of fresh talent and deep history collide to fight for cultural survival.
Everybody Dance

2022

Everybody Dance

2022
Explores the everyday life of five kids with different disabilities and how ballet has changed their lives.
In Search of the Hamat'sa: A Tale of Headhunting

2004

In Search of the Hamat'sa: A Tale of Headhunting

2004
The Hamat'sa (or "Cannibal Dance") is the most important-and highly represented-ceremony of the Kwakwaka'wakw (Kwakiutl) people of British Columbia. This film traces the history of anthropological depictions of the dance and, through the return of archival materials to a First Nations community, presents some of the ways in which diverse attitudes toward this history inform current performances of the Hamat'sa. With a secondary focus on the filmmaker's fieldwork experience, the film also attends specifically to the ethics of ethnographic representation and to the renegotiation of relationships between anthropologists and their research partners.
Nathaniel Dorsky: An Interview

2014

Nathaniel Dorsky: An Interview

2014
In his contribution to the On Art and Artists interview series, Nathaniel Dorsky (b.1943) begins by discussing his childhood love of the John Ford film Stagecoach and its influence upon his decision to make films while attending Antioch College. Describing the affinity he developed for work operating at the intersection of film materiality and personal language, Dorsky explains how he developed his philosophy of the “devotional film” and the “microcosmic viewer.” Dorsky likens his practice to Buddhist sculpture, referring to himself as a “Japanese poet continuing aspects of the ethos of the Marxist revolution.” In the interview, the artist describes his use of the screen as an “altarpiece for the image” and emphasizes his use of editing to create works which “harmoniously coalesce.” Interview conducted by Jeffrey Skoller in May 2000, edited in 2014.
Code Red: Youth of the Nation

2022

Code Red: Youth of the Nation

2022
With more school shootings in 2021 than any year on record, Code Red: Youth of the Nation exposes the fatal cost of our children's education. The documentary seeks to restore the safety of our schools by providing the tools and solutions to put an end to these tragedies.
Ten by Ten

2022

Ten by Ten

2022
There is no denying the evocative power of food to remind us of who we are and where we come from.
The Big Banana

2011

The Big Banana

2011
Banned in Cameroon, The Big Banana illustrates the poor working conditions in banana plantations and exposes the adverse impact on the people of a corporatocracy government that affords super profits for corporations at the expense of the local population. The Big Banana outlines land grabbing tactics by company Plantation du Haut Penja (PHP) and the ensuing devastation for communities: poverty, pollution, and sickness from pesticides. Bieleu, who spent two years filming residents in the remote countryside of Cameroon also features local cooperatives resisting the devastation through business alliances with fair trade organizations.
Vivienne Westwood

1990

Vivienne Westwood

1990
Profile of fashion designer, Vivienne Westwood.
The Second Day

2011

The Second Day

2011
On September 11, 2001, 4 year-old Brook Peters was attending his second day of kindergarten a few blocks from the World Trade Center in New York City when two planes struck the Twin Towers. Completed when he was 14, The Second Day provides a unique and hopeful perspective on 9/11 through the eyes of young people and educators who lived through it.
The Football Aficionado

2022

The Football Aficionado

2022
As women’s presence in stadiums is prohibited in Iran, Zahra, a 27-year-old woman and a football fan, disguises herself as a man to be able to watch a match. Thanks to social media, this simple initiative has become viral and a new chapter has begun in her life.
Bad Hombrewood

2022

Bad Hombrewood

2022
For decades, the film industry has confined minorities to stereotypical characters. Now, filmmakers fight to change the Latinx role in Hollywood.
Hudson, America

2022

Hudson, America

2022
A poignant portrait of America seen through the eyes of six Bangladeshi Gen-Z students and their conservative Muslim community, documented between 2016 and 2022.
How to Thrive

2022

How to Thrive

2022
Is there a secret formula to happiness? We all struggle sometimes, but what does it mean when we struggle? We all experience strong emotions, but what should we do about them? We all want to be happy - but what is happiness and why is it so elusive? Positive psycho-therapist Marie McLeod takes on a group of volunteers with mental health issues and offers them interventions grounded in positive psychology, neuroscience and wellbeing science.
Built Beautiful: An Architecture and Neuroscience Love Story

2020

Built Beautiful: An Architecture and Neuroscience Love Story

2020
For centuries, humans have sought to express beauty in architecture and art, but it is only recently that neuroscience is helping to determine how and why beauty plays an important role in our wellbeing. Architects and neuroscientists are embarking on a new field of study in which subliminal responses to one’s built environment may influence the future of design. Experts argue that positive subliminal reactions lead to a pleasurable experience, one reminiscent of a powerful meditation session. The question remains: what makes a building beautiful - or more specifically, which elements of the built environment does the brain recognize as beautiful? Narrated by Martha Stewart.
100 Ways to Cross the Border

2022

100 Ways to Cross the Border

2022
This vibrant documentary celebrates Guillermo Gómez-Peña and the contribution his radical, queer, anti-colonial art has made to conversations around border-thinking, gender politics and Latinx identity.
Seguir Siendo

1999

Seguir Siendo

1999
A portrait of the Mbyá-Guarani people living in Misiones, a subtropical province in Northeast Argentina. The people demonstrate everyday life existing on a geographical as well as a cultural border.
The Women Weavers of Assam

2019

The Women Weavers of Assam

2019
The Women Weavers of Assam focuses on the craft, labour and the everyday lives of a group of women weavers in India’s northeastern state of Assam. The weavers belong to a non-profit collective called Tezpur District Mahila Samiti (TDMS), which was founded a century ago by women activists and Gandhian freedom fighters of Assam. The TDMS weavers preserve traditional motifs and methods of Assamese weaving, which have been declining since the introduction of mechanized cloth production in India. Montages of weaving blend with the weavers' accounts of their personal experiences, generating an evocative representation of the environment and the rhythms of TDMS, and the cultural significance of hand-weaving as a craft and industry in Assam.
Eight Ladies

2010

Eight Ladies

2010
The eight ladies in this film come from Alyawarr Country in the Sandover River region in central Australia, about 250km north of Alice Springs. The filmmakers joined them on a five-day journey into the bush to hunt echidna and gather bush foods such as the bush potato. As they hunt and gather, and as they sit around their campfire at night preparing the food, they talk about the old days and how life has changed.
Not to Lose You, My Language

1975

Not to Lose You, My Language

1975
This program looks at a bilingual education program in the Northern Territory, where children are taught in English and Aboriginal languages. As there are many different Aboriginal languages, subjects are taught in a language appropriate to the subject matter. The aim of the program is to help Aboriginal children to see their language and culture as something worthwhile and so nurture their self-confidence and self-respect.